


eyeliner and dungarees

by cosmicpoet



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Emo, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Hipsters, Music, Music Shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 09:22:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17139185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicpoet/pseuds/cosmicpoet
Summary: Shuichi is adamant that his sense of identity comes from being a self-proclaimed 'emo'. Which is definitely the only reason he doesn't talk to the cute hipster girl who works at the record store. Definitely not because he has a crush on her, and he's shy. Definitely not.





	eyeliner and dungarees

“C’mon, man,” Kaito says, “just go talk to her! It’s not a big deal.”

“It _is_ a big deal! And besides, she’s not even my type,” Shuichi sighs, flicking through the vinyl records in the back room of Hope’s Peak Music Store, “you’ve seen how she dresses. Too many flowers and dungarees. She’s textbook hipster.”

“And?”

“And I’m not about that. I like heavy metal and dark stuff. I’d scare her off in an instant.”

“Oh come on, you’re a terrible liar. Besides, I’ve seen how you look at her. Don’t tell me you come to Hope’s Peak to _actually_ buy records. This shit’s way cheaper online! You come here ‘cause you have a crush.”

“I do not!”

“Yes, you do. You know you’ll have to talk to her when you go to the register to pay anyway, right?”

“No I don’t. I’ll just shove my shit on the counter and pay, _without_ talking.”

“So you’re gonna be rude to this girl who’s done nothing wrong to you, just because you can’t handle that _maybe_ you have a crush?”

“I told you! I don’t have a crush!”

“A crush on who?” Maki chimes in, as both of them turn their heads upwards to see that she’s standing next to them.

“Nobod -”

“On the cute girl behind the counter,” Kaito says, “and it’s a painfully obvious crush, too.”

“Shut _up_ you assholes!”

Shuichi hides his face as the girl walks over to them; he glances up to watch her, his cap hiding his eyes, and sees that she’s smiling.

“Can I help you guys with anything?”

“No,” Shuichi says.

“Ignore him,” Kaito tells her, “he’s shy. We could use a little help, actually! Shuichi here is looking to replace his vinyl collection.”

“Replace? What happened to them? If you don’t mind me asking,” she says with a light laugh.

“M-My ex,” Shuichi says, still not meeting her eyes, “he snapped them all when we broke up.”

“Yikes,” she lays a hand on his shoulder and, out of habit, he looks up, “exes can be tough shit, man. I know the feeling.”

“Yeah, well, Kokichi was a one-of-a-kind asshole.”

“Really? My ex - Leon, absolute dickhead - he dated me for a year. Turns out he was just using me to try and get a head start in his own music career.”

“How would, like, no offence, but how would a record store cashier help someone get started into the music business?”

“Oh! Haha,” Kaede laughs, “it’s ‘cause back then I used to get booked for a lot of gigs.”

“Gigs? You’re in a band?”

“Nah. Just piano stuff. People think it’s quite boring so the scene has dried up a little, but I play venues when I get chance! Do you play anything?”

“N-No. I’m not talented enough for that.”

“Bullshit! Everyone can learn an instrument if they’re passionate enough about it.”

“Y-Yeah, maybe…thanks.”

“So, what records do you need to replace?”

“Pretty much all of them. I’m mainly looking for all the MCR albums today.”

“Oh, well I can definitely help with that! Y’know, I used to love My Chemical Romance too.”

“You did?”

“Back in college, yeah. I was the whole emo picture, dyed black hair, piercings, the lot!”

“And what? You thought you were too good to be an emo and decided you’d become a hipster instead?” Shuichi says, anger tainting his voice. Identity is something he gets heated about, no matter how much he hates himself for it.

“Absolutely not! I just thought I should stop trying to define myself by fitting myself into a clique, and just be me instead. I gotta say though, hearing a G note kinda makes me wanna over-line my eyeliner again. And here we are,” Kaede stops a few metres away and pulls a few vinyls from the rack, “all your My Chemical Romance needs are here.”

“T-Thanks. I’ll just take these then.”

“Awesome. Tell you what,” Kaede winks at him, “they’re on the house. Asshole exes are bad enough to deal with, we don’t need to put that strain on your bank account, too.”

“Won’t you get fired?”

“Nah. The guys in here don’t know a thing about how to run the store. And besides, it’s a dead-end job anyway. Even if I did get fired, it might be the kick up the arse I need to get back into signing on for gigs. Speaking of which,” she pulls a notepad out of her pocket and writes something on it, “here’s my number. In case you ever wanna learn piano for free. I’m Kaede.”

“T-Thanks again,” Shuichi says, ignoring Kaito, Maki, and Kaede, bolting out of the shop and only stopping once he reaches the street corner. When his friends catch up with him, Kaito has an unbearably _I-told-you-so_ grin on his face.

“That was awesome bro!”

“No it fucking wasn’t,” Shuichi sighs, “I messed it all up.”

“You got her number,” Maki says, “that’s definitely a sign that she’s into you.”

“No, it’s a sign that she probably wants to take all my money on piano lessons.”

“Dude, she said they were _free._ Besides, she just gave you all those vinyls without asking you to pay. She’s _into you!”_

“No she’s _not.”_

“Yes, she is!”

“Why, Kaito? Why the fuck would a cute girl be into me?! She’s not even an emo - we don’t even have the same music tastes!”

“Why does that _matter_ so much to you?”

“Because you don’t get it! All my life I’ve been called an outcast, a freak, and if holding onto being an emo makes me feel less bad about that, then I’ll fucking do what I want!”

“Hey, Shuichi, calm down. Maybe holding onto this sense of identity is actually what’s holding you back?”

“Yeah,” Maki says, “like, maybe you’re just restricting yourself into the sense of identity that you think people expect of you, ‘cause by doing that it’s easier to cope with rejection. You can tell yourself that people don’t understand you, instead of realising that maybe some people just don’t like you, and that that’s okay.”

“So what, you’re saying that everyone just hates me ‘cause I’m Shuichi, and not ‘cause I’m an emo?”

“I’m saying that nobody in this whole world is liked by everyone,” Maki says, “and that’s fine. But in there, that was a girl who was _genuinely_ interested in you, and you held yourself back because you were scared of new territory. If you ever wanna get somewhere you want to be, you have to open yourself up to rejection.”

“Guys, I’m not in the mood. Thanks, but I’ll see you back at the apartment.”

When he breaks off from the pair of them, Shuichi pulls his phone out of his back pocket. Everything they’ve said to him plays on his mind, and suddenly he finds that he’s saving the number Kaede gave him into his contacts list.

**< To Kaede: 13:39> **Hey. It’s Shuichi, we just met in the music shop.

**< From Kaede: 13:41> **oh hey! i’m glad you messaged ( ◔◡◔✿ )

**< From Kaede: 13:49> **i was gonna ask if you were free for dinner? tonight maybe?

**< To Kaede: 13:52> **With you?

**< From Kaede: 13:53> **no, on your own…of course with me!! i’d like to get to know you <3

**< To Kaede: 13:54> **Sounds good.

**< From Kaede: 13:58> **awesome!! it’s a date!!

**< From Kaede: 13:59> **well…not a date

**< From Kaede: 13:59> **unless u want it to be…? ;)

**< To Kaede: 14:01> **It’s a date!

**< To Kaede: 14:01> **:-)

He’s about to put his phone back when he sends one last text.

**< To Luminary of the Apartment: 14:05> **You are NOT allowed to say ‘I told you so’.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas to my wonderful friend Callie! I hope you liked this!


End file.
